Bone clamps are well known in the medical profession for use in repairing broken and fractured bones. A severely broken bone typically requires attachment of a periosteum compression plate (or “peri-plate”) to the bone. The peri-plate bridges the fracture and provides stability for the bone either permanently or temporarily as the break in the bone heals. Bone clamps are used to hold the peri-plate in position when it is attached to the bone. In particular, once a broken bone is set by a physician, a peri-plate is positioned against the bone in a desirable location that spans across the break. One or more bone clamps are then introduced to compress the peri-plate against the bone and hold the peri-plate to the desired location on the bone. With the peri-plate fixed in place against the bone, the physician uses screws or other attachment means to secure the peri-plate to the bone. The bone clamps are then removed from the bone/plate interface, while the peri-plate remains secured to the bone and provides stability to the bone as it heals.
Bone clamps typically comprise a forceps-like instrument having a squeeze handle and opposed jaws that provide two opposed clamping surfaces positioned on opposing jaws. A ratchet or other mechanism is used to permit movement of the opposed clamping surfaces toward each other, but prevent movement of the opposed clamping surfaces away from each other. This allows the user of a bone clamp to clamp the peri-plate to the bone during a surgical procedure without having to continually squeeze the handle. After the need for clamping the peri-plate to the bone is past, the ratchet mechanism is released and the two opposed clamping surfaces move away from each other, thereby removing the clamp upon the peri-plate and bone.
Several problems are present with existing bone clamps. First, bone clamps typically include a single jaw size and associated clamping surface for use with numerous shapes and sizes of bones. For example, a surgeon may have only a single bone clamp for use in association with the tibia, femur, humerus, and radius/ulna. With only a single jaw size for various bones, the clamping surface provided by the jaw is often an inadequate fit for the bone in question. Such an inadequate fit may allow the bone clamp to improperly move and drift around the bone/plate interface during operation. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a bone clamp with numerous jaws of different shapes and sizes that could be used in association with the bone clamp.
Another problem with current bone clamps is that the weight of the bone clamp creates a significant torque around the bone when the bone clamp is in place. This torque is undesirable, as it may cause the plate to move or shift once it is strategically placed upon the bone. Furthermore, this undesirable torque may even cause the fractured bone to shift once it is set. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a bone clamp with reduced weight or a method for removing weight from the bone clamp when in use, thereby reducing the torque exerted on the bone during surgical procedures.
Yet another problem with current bone clamp instruments is that the handle of the instrument protrudes from the surgical site during use and invades the surgeon's operating space. This is problematic for the surgeon, as the surgeon needs to be able to clearly view the surgical site to ensure proper alignment of the bone/plate interface. The surgeon also needs adequate space to use other instrumentation in order to drill screws when securing the peri-plate to the bone. Handling of this instrumentation is often awkward and difficult, but it becomes even more awkward and difficult if one or more handles from the bone clamp are protruding from the surgical site. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a bone clamp with a handle that may be removed once the clamp is in position upon the bone and peri-plate.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a bone clamp which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks. In particular, it would be desirable to provide a bone clamp with interchangeable jaws each being designed and dimensioned for use with different bones. It would also be desirable to provide a bone clamp with a removable handle.